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California foreclosure inventory among the lowest in the nation

After years of consistent improvements, the national foreclosure rate is at its lowest level in nine years, according to CoreLogic’s July 2016 National Foreclosure Report.

Thanks to loan modifications, a healthy labor market and upward housing trends, just 0.9 percent of mortgaged homes are in some state of foreclosure – the lowest rate announced since August 2007.

“The U.S. Treasury’s Making Home Affordable program has contributed to the decline through permanent modifications, forbearance and foreclosure alternatives, which have assisted 2.5 million homeowners with first mortgages at risk of foreclosure since 2009,” CoreLogic Chief Economist Frank Nothaft said in a statement.

In July 2016, 34,000 homes completed the foreclosure process, down 16.5 percent year-over-year and 3.9 percent from the month prior. The serious delinquency rate in the U.S. sat at 2.9 percent, the lowest since May 2016, according to the report.

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National foreclosure inventory is down 29.1 percent year-over-year, reaching 355,000 homes in the U.S. July marked 57 consecutive months of annual foreclosure inventory declines, CoreLogic says, and the majority of states (29) posted a lower foreclosure inventory compared to the national rate.

Foreclosure in San Francisco, Los Angeles

As of July, California had the fifth most completed foreclosures in the nation, at 21,343 homes over the past 12 months. However, the Golden State’s foreclosure inventory was an impressively low 0.3 percent, down 30.4 percent year-over-year.

The non-judicial state also posted a healthier-than-average serious delinquency rate of 1.5 percent.

San Francisco-Redwood City-South San Francisco held an extremely low foreclosure inventory rate of 0.1 percent, representing a 33.6 percent annual drop. In July, 0.5 percent of homes faced serious delinquencies. Further, only 154 San Francisco metro homes completed the foreclosure process over the 12-month period ending in July.

The foreclosure inventory rate in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale metro was also low in July, at 0.4 percent, which is down 32.7 percent year-over-year. L.A.’s serious delinquency rate reached 1.6 percent of mortgage homes in July. Over the 12-month period ending in July, the L.A. metro area saw 3,692 completed foreclosures.

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